CarMD Shows CarMD for Mac Vehicle Diagnostic System

SAN FRANCISCO, CA -- At this week's Macworld Expo 2010 show, CarMD was demonstrating the Mac version of their CarMD system. Art Jacobsen, Director of Business Development, gave us the details on this car care system.

CarMD is a hardware and software system that can retrieve diagnostic information from any car made after 1996, as well as some vehicles made in 1994 and 1995, if they have a diagnostic connector that is OBD2 compliant. To start, you plug the CarMD device into your vehicle's diagnostic port, and the device will retrieve information about the state of your vehicle. The device has three LEDs: green, yellow and red. Green means all is well, yellow means there are some issues, and red means service is required. There's also a display which can show a diagnostic code, as well as other information.

CarMD Vehicle Diagnostic Device

If there's a yellow or red LED, your next step is to attach the device to your Mac via the included USB cable, and run the CarMD software. The software will translate the diagnostic codes into easy-to-understand language. It will also tell you the most likely way to fix the problem, and even an estimated repair cost for your geographic area.

CarMD 2100 Handheld Tester & Software Kit is priced at US$98.99 and is available now for both Mac and PC.

I purchased this device at the show. They told me that it would work on my PowerPC based mac which is really old. I was actually quite skeptical leaving the show but much to my surprise it actually worked with my old klunker and diagnosed my car correctly as well! Great find.